Spokane Wi-Fi grid expansion to advance

Focus for now is mostly on public safety-related communications needs

The city of Spokane, in cooperation with others, is working on plans to enlarge a broadband wireless-communication network that currently covers just a 100-block area of downtown.

The goal is to provide a greatly expanded grid for the fast-growing technology known as wireless fidelity, or “Wi-Fi,” which uses unlicensed radio spectrum to enable high-speed data transmission to portable computers.

Although such technology is seen as a potential catalyst for economic development here, this part of the planned network expansion is “municipal only” and is being designed specifically for use by public-safety agencies, says Joel Hobson, the city’s network services manager.

Equipment installations planned for later this year should provide Wi-Fi coverage at points on the North Side, on the West Plains, and in Spokane Valley, and also along main north-south and east-west arterials in the city, Hobson says.

“It’s sort of the beginning of citywide coverage,” which should be in place by the middle of next year, he says. Through current and planned discussions with other local-government jurisdictions, though, he says, “What we’re doing is collaborating and developing a single set of standards that will allow us to extend the coverage throughout the Northwest.”

By Kim Crompton

Full Story: http://spokanejournal.com/spokane_id=article&sub=2297